Operation: Imperial Ember
by justreidabook
Summary: If one ghost makes success likely, then two assures it. And six? Well, that's just pure overkill. However, no plan survives contact with the enemy, & not every soldier survives the unexpected, even those who live on. (This story isn't in the canon universe, but in Writer Frantic's Rebirth Series universe for the Writing event on their forum.) My thanks to KhazintheDark for editing.


**This story takes place from the perspective of a helmet being worn by a ghost designated Delta (Dræk Steele for those of you on the forum). Disclaimer (I think): Please do not use any information from this story in the RP game. All camera footage is lost at the end of the story and wireless was jammed, so almost nothing is seen after the hasty dropship exit. Also, do not find this in his mind, as this was all partially covered up with fake memories and I have a plan for how this will affect everyone the end of operative Deltas first mission. Next, this story does not take place in the normal Starcraft Universe but takes place in the universe of Writer Frantic's Rebirth Series/Forum. I would like t** **o recognize KhazintheDark for helping me fix some mistakes and editing this story. Finally, I apologize for how certain pieces of the dialogue came out, but there was a lot of information I wanted to get out there and less story length to do so. Plus, I just can't resist the quotes. Bon appetitt.**

* * *

POWER: ON

SYSTEM ERROR SCAN...100% EFFECTIVE

REMAINING DATA FROM PREVIOUS MISSION...PURGED

AIRTIGHT SEAL...ONLINE

CAMERA...ONLINE

WIRELESS CAMERA CONNECTION...ACTIVATED

COMMUNICATIONS...ONLINE

OPERATIVE DESIGNATION: DELTA

MISSION DESIGNATION: OPERATION IMPERIAL EMBER

MISSION TYPE: FRIENDLY RETRIEVAL

HAVE A NICE DAY OPERATIVE

The camera turns on, showing Operative Delta the inside of a dropship with five other ghosts crammed into it. A groan is heard from inside the helmet.

Overlord: "Gentlemen, today will not be just some small mission, but one that could alter the glorious fate of the Dominion itself. You are the best men for this job, and we are confident that you shall succeed."

Foxtrot: "That's what you guys always say. Give me the sitrep."

Overlord: "Your target for this mission is one of the best scientists in the Dominion called Doctor Anders. He was one of the best scientists in the days of the Empire, was a personal colleague and student of General Rorke, and is currently believed to be held hostage on this ship."

A picture of a middle aged man in his early forties appears next to a picture of a private yacht on the helmet screen. Relevant data appears about projects Doctor Anders may have participated in, places that the yacht; apparently named _The Ember_ ; had been in the past few months, and the crew log which said there were twenty seven crewmen.

Overlord: "Obviously, he is extremely important and we want to get him safely home as soon as possible. This is even more important, as he has photographic memory and may have caught a glimpse or two of something above our pay grades. The plan is for you to drop out of your ship towards the ocean as soon as we exit this fog. You will find jet packs that we have acquired recently from reapers hanging above your heads."

The camera moves upwards and looks at six jet packs hanging on straps from the ceiling before looking over at the exit door.

Overlord: "When you leave the dropship, you will use your jet packs to steer you towards _The Ember_ and land. Be very careful, for if you do not time your descent correctly, you will either hit the ship too fast and die or hit the water before _The Ember_ arrives and sink to the sea floor. Your jet packs obviously don't work underwater and, but you do have about a days worth of oxygen inside your suits. That should be enough time for us to arrive and pick you up. From there, kill everyone onboard and retrieve Doctor Anders. We will then retrieve you. If you believe that you will not be able to retrieve him upon landing for unknown reasons, kill him. This order comes straight from General Takeshi himself. Understood?"

Operatives: "UNDERSTOOD SIR!"

Overlord: "Good. Dismissed."

Pilot: "E.T.A. Is two minutes to the drop site, so get ready."

The camera jostles a bit as the wearer gets up along with the other ghosts and puts on his jet pack before getting in a line to leave.

Charlie: "Hey, I've seen you before. Solo operative, right?"

Bravo: "Come again?"

Alpha: "I know what you're thinking. Don't start talking to him. He never stops. The only way to get him to stop talking is to kill him. Who knows, he might keep chattering on with his body in a grave and a bullet in his brain, but it's always worth a try."

Bravo: "Sounds like a plan."

Pilot: "I heard that. Oh, hey back there. ETA. One minute."

Echo: "You sure about that?"

Pilot: "Confirmed. (sigh)...This should be quick. Oh hell!"

Delta: "Out with it!"

Pilot: "I don't know how they did it, but they aren't where they were on our radar anymore. They're right in front of us! Somebody get me out of this mess!"

Alpha: "You got us into this mess. Now deal with it! Open the doors!"

Charlie: "Why couldn't we get a cloaked dropship instead of this old deathtrap?"

Bravo: "That's because those things cost more to build than we all could make in a year. Don't worry. It could be worse."

A burst of gunfire quickly rips through the floor and hits Bravo. The ship shudders and starts to rock back and forth.

Charlie: "What the!"

Alpha: "We all got it coming kid. HURRY UP!"

The doors to the dropship open.

Pilot: "Loud and clear. Waitin' on you."

Alpha: "GO!"

Charlie jumps out and gets hit immediately by gunfire. The camera moves forwards unstably as Delta jumps next and then turns to look up as a blue shimmer crowds the camera lens as they activate their cloak. Moments later Echo jumps out and moves past him, cloaking just before moving out of view. Foxtrot is seen jumping out before a rocket fired from the yacht hits the cargo hold of the dropship.

Pilot: "Going in!"

The camera turns and watches as the dropship swerves and crashes into The Ember, bouncing off and taking the top two floors with it. The Ember grows bigger in the camera lens, until it takes up one fourth of the screen, with auto-turrets firing from multiple positions.

Foxtrot: "Something's wrong! I can't cloak! It isn't working!"

Echo: "Go in fast! It's your only chance!"

Delta: "Overlord! Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, and evac are down! Repeat! Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, and evac are down! We may need backup!"

Echo: "Cancel that! Foxtrot is down! I repeat, Foxtrot is down! It's getting too hot! You'll never get a ship through this mess!"

Overlord: "Copy- read me? You're breaking- Get- Doctor- evac- location- your own- Over and out."

The camera turns downwards again as Delta turns. Four men run out from inside the ship and stand on the ship's undamaged stern. The descent slows as Delta uses their jetpack to slow down to a survivable speed. At twenty feet above the ship, one of the four men crumbles to the ground.

Delta: "I see live people,"

Two muffled shots are heard, accompanied by two of the men falling to the ground dead.

Echo: "I see dead people. Boo."

The remaining man drops his gun and runs towards the door. As he opens the door a knife seemingly materializes in thin air, hurtles through the air, and stabs him in the back. Delta walks towards the door, but stops when the knife disappears into the cloaked hand of Echo once again.

Delta: "Silencers off."

Echo: "I'll take point."

The camera moves through the door into a hallway with two doors on each side and one at the end. The two doors closest open. Seconds later, a man runs out of the one on the right and brings his rifle up, only to be shot in the head by Delta.

Echo: "Both rooms contain hostiles, but the Doctor isn't in either one. Grenades."

Delta moves towards the left side door and throws in a grenade before quickly shutting the door. Echo flickers into view as his cloak deactivates and repeats the process with the other room. Two muffled explosions are heard and Echo's cloak flickers back to life.

Echo: "Having some suit malfunctions. The explosion didn't only mess with Foxtrots cloak. Cheap military spenders. Still, nothing to worry about. Let's go."

The doors to the next two rooms open and close.

Echo: "Clear. He must be in the last room. I'd use a flash bang, but I only carry lethals. Be quick about it."

Delta: "Got it."

Delta moves up and kicks down the door, before throwing in a flash bang.

Unknown mercenary: "GRENADE!"

A ringing noise is heard as the flash-bang goes off. Delta and Echo rush in. At the last moment, Echo's cloak fails again. Both ghosts blow apart a five man team of mercenaries with their shotguns. The last one shoots Echo in the leg just before Delta fires a point blank she'll from a shotgun into his chest. An old man wearing glasses rises up from behind a desk as Delta gives Echo a hand up and turns off his cloak.

Echo: "Doctor Anders?"

Doctor Anders: "Science hurts."

The words pain don't hurt are shown by the camera appearing on Delta's and Echo's HUDs telling them the appropriate coded response.

Echo: "Pain don't hurt-"

A sharp claw like blade sprouts out of his chest and then retracts. Delta turns around, only to be kicked in the chest by another ghost. He flys into a wall and the camera view rolls as his helmet falls off, showing an old man in his early sixties with a grey mustache and goatee like Jeff bridges in R.I.P.D. He aims his shotgun at the ghost, only to have Doctor Anders shoot two red paintballs into his eyes. He screams as the paintballs make sizzling noises.

Delta: " MOJE OCZY! MOJE OCZY! TO PALI! NIE MOGĘ SIĘ GO! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU PUT IN THOSE THINGS!"

Doctor Anders: "An acid I recently created. I specifically designed it to destroy human eyes. If you live to see tomorrow and look in a mirror, you will notice nothing unusual except that you have two charred eye sockets instead of eyes and that you can't see anything! Ha!"

Ghost: "Doctor, this isn't a great time for jokes. I have three dropships ready to get you out of here to a secure location before they redirect a satellite to track us and send in another team."

Delta: "What are you doing! You swore an oath to the Dominion!"

Ghost: "No. He swore an oath to the Empire. And although I have sworn no oath to the Empire, I shall bring it to power and replace the Dominion with the true rulers of mankind. You see, the Doctor here happens to be part of a new ghost program that doesn't need children, and I am the first of many to come. My father was a psionic mage, experimented on for the old ghost program. He died, but taught me everything he knew. And now with our refined technology, we can produce ghosts out of seasoned veterans and do not need children to do our work for us. I leave you now. In half an hour this ship will crash into the docks of a nearby Dominion coastal base, and you will die with it."

The ghost and Doctor Adams turn to leave. But as they open the door, it creaks. This is all that Delta needs to hear. Launching himself towards the noise he heard, he is seen by the camera snapping Doctor Adams neck, only to have the ghost turn and slash his face with the claws attached to his hand. Delta stumbles back and falls to the ground screaming in pain as his adversary pulls out a silenced pistol and shoots out both is his kneecaps.

Ghost: "Well, aren't you a resourceful soldier. Especially for someone of your age, grandpa. Maybe I won't kill you. My old boss would kill you, but I'm smarter that that peg legged maniac. He made me believe that the Empire of old was corrupt, whack, and ineffective. I knew that while it was just as he said, it was because of one man. The Empire would flourish with the strings of the puppet master cut. I played his game, let him go off on a suicide mission to kill the Commander. Then those two fakes show up and ruin my plan."

The ghost walks towards the screen and picks up the helmet. He walks in front of Delta and places it a few feet in front of him before moving behind it. The helmet rolls a little, ending up with its camera facing the ceiling.

Delta: "You're insane. The Commanders are all that hold us together, and we would still live in a world of anarchy and superstition if it weren't for the formation of the Empire. You will bring that back, not make things better!"

Ghost: "Now, what to do with you. Oh, I know. I simply can cover up any of your memories from now. Change them for some others. You won't remember me very well, if at all. Even then, you only will remember torture of me blundering into your mind. I must apologize, but I am quite new to this. You'll be my first subject. Yes, I'll replace your memories of me, that's for sure. Now, how to explain the psychic trauma? I wonder. It's not like there are ghosts just walking around."

Delta: "There is no way that you can ever get away with this. You will be killed by the Dominion, just as you should have the day you were born you psionic terrorist."

Ghost: "Now that's an interesting idea. Yes, you'll remember me, but think you killed me before I could do anything more than rip through your mind."

Delta: "If what you said about new ghosts is true, then you cannot win. They'll see my true memories, and then? I'll kill you with your own blade."

Ghost: "Well then! I guess I'll just have to hide your memories deeper. This will hurt a whole lot more that it originally was going to."

Delta screams out in pain, before falling over. Trying to get up, he falls again.

Ghost: "Hmmm, so many interesting memories in there. Oh, yes. You are undoubtedly starting to feel very weak. That is my fault. You see, this blade here was taken from the arm of one of those terrazzine monsters. I dipped it in a toxin. Not fatal, just makes you weak. Any questions before I leave and you stumble into a lifeboat and pass out my little sleeper agent? Or should I say, Dræk Steele?"

The camera sees the ghost walk towards it and stop right next to it.

Delta: "Who...are...you?"

The ghost lifts his foot above Dræk's helmet, and his helmet camera catches it coming down. Just before the camera is destroyed and the only files of this encounter are lost for eternity, one thing is heard.

Ghost: "We are the sons of the empire."


End file.
